Divorce law blog

Unfortunately there is no simple answer to this.
If you own your property jointly with your ex, then you should not change the locks without their agreement, even if your ex leaves your home voluntarily. This is because your ex has a legal right to re-enter and occupy the property.

If you and your spouse have decided to make a go of things again, it is possible to stop your divorce right up until the granting of your decree absolute. After this you will officially be divorced, your marriage will have been dissolved and there is no going back, unless you decide to remarry.

Until the court makes a consent order, the financial agreement between divorcing spouses is not legally binding. It is not uncommon for one spouse to agree to a financial settlement, only then to have a change of heart a few days, weeks or even months later. If you find yourself in this situation, all is not lost - it can be very difficult for your ex to go back on an agreement but it may involve having to go to court.

If you’ve just been through, or are going through, a marriage or relationship breakdown, making a new will is probably the last thing on your mind. But your existing will is unlikely to reflect your changed circumstances and it’s worth updating it sooner rather than later. The risk of not doing so is that, on your death, your assets don’t pass to the people you would like to inherit from you.

Last week, statistics were published by insurer Legal and General stating that parents will lend £6.5 billion to their children to help them onto the property ladder in the coming year; an amount similar to that lent by the UK’s ninth-biggest mortgage lender, Yorkshire Building Society. L&G predict that parents of buyers will be involved in 26% of all property transactions and provide deposits for more than 298,000 mortgages.

The psychological and emotional manipulation of a child by one parent against the other, parental alienation has recently been described by Anthony Douglas, chief executive of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) as “a form of neglect”. In extreme, but sadly not unusual circumstances, this form of psychological abuse leads to the long-term, or even permanent, estrangement of a child from one parent and/or other family members. Research shows that parental alienation can also increase the risk of the child developing mental and physical illnesses and the likelihood of substance abuse and addiction in later years

“I have been cohabiting with my partner for years. We have no wills but surely they’ll inherit everything on my death?”
What happens when one cohabitee dies? Our research revealed that 44 per cent of the cohabiting couples surveyed had not made a will. It is important to know what difference having a will makes because, unlike married couples, cohabiting couples have no right to inherit from each other under the intestacy rules.

“We’ve lived together as common-law spouses, do I have rights over my home now we’re separating?”
Not necessarily. As shown by our recent survey, many people believe that unmarried couples who live together for a number of years have the same rights to property and financial support on separation as married couples. But there is no such thing as a common law marriage and the laws applied to divide a cohabiting couple’s property are very different from the laws used to divide a married couple’s assets.

A recent YouGov survey commissioned by us here at Mills & Reeve highlights that many people who are unmarried but live with their partners do not fully understand their legal positions and have no idea what rights they would have if they were to separate in due course.

The Court of Appeal recently decided that, no, opposite sex couples cannot enter into a civil partnership. However, the judgment was far from clear cut and the decision adds to the growing pressure on the government to reform the law for unmarried couples on separation.

Disclaimer

The information on this blog is not legal advice. You should not rely on it and we don't accept liability in connection with it. Please read our full disclaimer and let us know if you would like us to advise on any legal issue.